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Pass the Green Salt, Ayatollah

2/2/2006

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Pass the Green Salt, Ayatollah: The International Atomic Energy Agency meets today to take up the matter of Iran’s nuclear program—you know, the one that is purely civilian and not in any way related to Tehran’s threat of “wiping Israel off the map” and other forms of unpleasantness. According to a New York Times dispatch, the 35 IAEA board members will consider a four-page report “that suggests links between Iran’s ostensibly peaceful nuclear program and its military work on high explosives and missiles.” The Times says the report refers to a previously unknown matter known as “the Green Salt Project.” (“Green salt” is geekspeak for uranium tetrafluoride) The project combined work on uranium processing, high explosives, and design of a missile warhead. To the report’s authors, that suggests a "military-nuclear dimension.” Do tell.